“Our only big issue has been with the state,” said Pure Romance CEO Chris Cicchinelli.

Staff members with the state’s economic development arm, JobsOhio, reacted favorably to the relationship-enhancement product company’s request for tax assistance, Cicchinelli said, as it moves downtown and hopes to expand.

But when the request was run by the governor’s office, the answer was “no,” he said.

“Is it because of the product category?” Cicchinelli said, referring to the fact that sex toys are among the products Pure Romance sells. “They know what we’ve done for the city. I’m a little disappointed with our governor if that’s the choice. I’m hoping the door is still open. We’re trying to bring jobs to Ohio.”

Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols did not respond to an e-mail and telephone call seeking comment.

Asked whether the governor’s office denied Pure Romance’s request for tax assistance, Lynn Tolan, a spokeswoman for the Development Services Agency, which oversees JobsOhio, said, “I don’t know about any involvement with the governor’s office.”

Pure Romance’s request was not the best use of taxpayer dollars, Tolan said. But Tolan wouldn’t say why.

“The primary reason is we are often in competition with other states and so on, and if competitors knew why decisions were made, we’d be competing against ourselves. They’d have that information to use against the state of Ohio,” she said of the reason the department will not say specify the reason the department denied Pure Romance tax help.

Pure Romance has reached out to the governor’s office, but has received no response, Cicchinelli said, adding he has also contacted state lawmakers whom he declined to name.

“We’ve helped thousands of women,” he said. “I’m very disappointed with the way the governor’s office has taken a stance on this. It’s telling people women don’t really matter. A lot of people buy our products because they need this from a medical perspective.